Schools and the Public, Then and Now

In 1950, Mrs. Foster, a fifth-grade teacher in a growing suburb, didn't know how good she had it. Her school building was new and state of the art; her textbooks fresh from the publisher; her students attentive; their parents supportive, deferential, but detached; and funds for education arrived each year without debate or angst.

Schools today face obstacles that were unheard of then, such as:

• News media scrutiny. From reports of disappointing academic performance to shockingly violent acts by a few students, schools have had an overabundance of negative publicity in the past several years. Some of these stories have been legitimate, fair, and carefully reported; others unfair, poorly done, and sensationalized. Nevertheless, schools are left to deal with the resulting images and impressions, justified or not.

• Increased competition. Unlike 50 years ago when parochial schools were the primary public school competition, public schools today lose students, funds, and voter support to private schools, charter schools within the public system, home schooling, the privatization of public schools, and school choice (open enrollment).

• Demographics. Fifty years ago, the baby boom was just warming up. As boomers swelled school attendance rolls into the late 1970s, schools had a willing base of support. In 1970,for example, there were four million more school-age children than adults in the United States. By 1996, that ratio was turned on its head with 33 million more adults than school-age children. Today, there are more people than not who see themselves as having no personal stake in the success of public education (Carroll & Carroll, 1994).

• Rampant cynicism. Almost 40 years of growing skepticism over government 's effectiveness, from Vietnam to Watergate to the partisan politics in legislatures today, has seriously eroded trust in public institutions. And with the publication in 1984 of A Nation at Risk, the United States was shocked out of its complacent belief that all was well with our schools. Seventeen years later, public schools still feel the fallout with voters often reluctant to pass tax increases for schools, concerned that the return is not worth the investment. And more recently, the 1995 Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) presented evidence that our students are not performing as well as students in other nations. Math and science performance of students in the United States was compared with students from 41 other countries. U.S. 12th-graders scored well below the international average in math and science, and eighth graders scored below the average in math. These results have caused concern among politicians, policymakers, and the public.

The irony is that schools, partly due to the wake-up call of A Nation at Risk, have become more rigorous and streamlined. But perceptions lag behind reality, and a knowledge economy places new and greater demands on public education. For good or for bad, education is an issue that absorbs many public anxieties about values, cultures, race, crime, taxes, and jobs.

Despite the obstacles, in most schools today, the building blocks to regain public support are in place: good people, a good product, and good results. With strong leadership and an effective public relations plan, schools can forge a new and stronger relationship with the public-a partnership where the public is empowered and given value.

Unfortunately, schools of education do not provide training in public relations, and most superintendents, administrators, and teachers have little or no communications and public relations training. Many are uncomfortable in "selling "themselves or their services. But the fact is, schools must promote them- selves because in the absence of the facts, "people will create their own information and it won't be right "(Bradley, 1996). Schools must take it upon themselves to tell their own stories, and to listen better to their partners, the public, so they can provide the value the public wants.